Ride along the River

 

It was a very windy day today, the wind was blowing full force down the St. Lawrence river. This wharf is in Lasalle, it belongs to a raft rental company, but there were no brave customers there today except for a pair of mallard ducks. A large group of ducks came by mid painting but I could not get them in the composition. To paint the choppy water I used the side-brush technique where the brush is about half loaded with paint and you scrape it across the grain. When dry, small brush strokes are placed over, and additional side-brush. The island in the Background is probably Goat Island right next to Heron Island.

Pair of Ducks on Wharf, St. Lawrence River, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2022 (No. 3151)

As the wind whipped up the waves a kaleidoscope of colours was produced in the water. On the shore, the grass and shrubs were blowing to the left. I used a similar technique as the previous painting, a lot of side-brush including in the water and in the shore, then small brush strokes and additional texturing on top.

Choppy water, St. Lawrence River, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2022 (No. 3152)

Painting the rapids is a big challenge, so today I tried a different approach. The bottom half of the painting was done with the side-brush technique, but the top half of the rapids was done entirely with small interlocking brush strokes. In this way I could control the colour variations in the splashing wavy water, and maintain the white highlights of the foamy crests. It worked out quite well, if you squint a bit, the scene is just as it was. This technique is reminiscent of impressionism, and also Tom Thompson the Canadian painter who did Jack Pine. In Jack pine, he painted the water with tight interlocking brush strokes of all different colours.

Seagulls and Lachine Rapids, watercolour 8 x 10" Fabriano Artistico, June 2022

A final quick painting of the day, this is a foot bridge near the duck island, a fowl reserve for migratory birds. The island was accessible by foot only so I made this painting from the vantage point of Lasalle's Rapids Park, standing near the bike path. The composition was inspired by the Japanese prints, Hiroshige and Hokusai especially loved to make this kind of composition.

Foot Bridge near Duck Island, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, June 2022 (No. 3153a)